#118
Even though he had sensed obvious physical changes, he hadn’t felt any mental changes.
“It’s hard to explain in words, but I think this is an ability!”
“……”
Unlike the excited Ho-woo, Oh-yul’s face looked slightly dumb for a moment before slowly becoming expressionless. His cool eyes scanned Ho-woo’s profile.
“We should hurry back to the lab and report this.”
Ho-woo started walking ahead but turned to look at the esper who wasn’t moving. Oh-yul shifted his heavy steps at the questioning gaze that asked if he wasn’t coming.
***
The couple nodded as they listened to Ho-woo’s explanation after he suddenly rushed into the lab. As if their years as researchers weren’t just for show, they quickly gave a brief diagnosis of the strange phenomenon Ho-woo had noticed.
“It’s definitely a mental esper ability.”
Although esper abilities are diverse, there are clearly common characteristics shared by each type of ability. Like human personalities, espers adapt their abilities to suit themselves, so similarities might not be obvious, but mental espers were different. They commonly possessed excellent abilities to manipulate people’s ‘memories’.
Perhaps because of this, mental espers also had an exceptional ability to preserve their own memories. The couple had conducted research on the mental world of mental espers several times. If the ability to never forget could be applied to ordinary people, it would be a groundbreaking discovery.
At that time, the couple discovered one commonality among mental espers. Their memory systems were like well-organized spaces. Some stored memories in books within a vast library, while others organized memories as if taking out clothes from a drawer.
When they heard Ho-woo’s explanation, the couple recalled these organizational methods of mental espers. And they had one question.
“But why a mental ability?”
“Indeed, that’s a bit strange. We expected it to be water or ice-related, considering the influence of the energy.”
Kim Jin-woo looked at Oh-yul suspiciously for a moment before shaking his head.
‘No way.’
As far as he knew, Oh-yul had manifested at age 9 and had been an esper for 21 years. Moreover, he had two revealed abilities.
An ability user of water and ice. Although water and ice were strongly related abilities, espers with two abilities like Oh-yul were extremely rare.
‘And on top of that, he has a mental ability?’
Wouldn’t that make him an absurdly impossible monster? Besides, if he had a mental ability, there would have been no reason to endure Kim Dong-cheol’s tyranny for 21 years. If he wanted, taking control of the city would have been easier than eating cold porridge.
Kim Jin-woo erased the hypothesis from his mind and pondered deeply. Why did Ho-woo develop an ability completely different from the energy provider? While he was thinking, Ho-woo described the corridor of his memories in detail.
The white marble floor. The intricately carved door frames, and how memories played like movies when he looked inside. Seong Ha-young carefully recorded every word without missing a single detail.
“And there was one strange thing.”
“A strange thing?”
Seong Ha-young stopped writing and looked at Ho-woo. Ho-woo hesitated for a moment. The more he spoke, the more clearly he felt something tangible. If what he saw were really memories, then the tightly closed door at the end of the corridor might contain memories from before he was 10 years old.
No, it was certain.
“You all know, right?”
Ho-woo’s clear gaze encompassed the three people.
“That I have no memories from before I was 10 years old.”
From suspicion to shock and worry, Kim Jin-woo and Seong Ha-young’s emotions changed rapidly. However, Oh-yul stared at Ho-woo with deep eyes, showing no sign of agitation. His black pupils reflected no emotion, shining smoothly.
“There was a single closed door at the end of the corridor.”
If that corridor was really where Ho-woo’s memories were organized, it was easy to guess what the closed door might be.
“Should I open that door?”
No one could answer that question.
Ho-woo recalled the black door for a long time. Who could the child with purple eyes beyond the door be?
“…Ho-woo.”
Seong Ha-young cautiously spoke up.
“I’m against it.”
“So am I.”
Kim Jin-woo added his opinion to Seong Ha-young’s. They thought this was too big a gamble. And Ho-woo agreed with their opinion.
“…What do you think, Oh-yul?”
Ho-woo asked Oh-yul. He had been just looking at Ho-woo without saying a word until now.
“I…”
His lips closed tightly again. Hesitation and fear shook Oh-yul for a moment before disappearing without a trace. It was like resignation.
“I respect Ho-woo’s choice.”
“My choice?”
“Whether you open that door or not, I’ll be by your side.”
The monster whispered more gently than ever before.
“We’ll always be together.”
***
Ho-woo looked at the familiar house. He had come without notice, but there seemed to be no one inside.
Maybe I should have called ahead.
Ho-woo fiddled with his phone. He could still call Lee Ho-yeon with just one phone call, but he hesitated. The issue he had brought up would be reopening an old wound for Lee Ho-yeon.
The purple eyes he had seen through the slightly opened gap of memory were surely related to an esper.
And that esper must be connected to his mother’s death.
It was a question that could be easily answered with simple deduction. Lee Ho-yeon still disliked espers. Even while suffering from the reporters who had swarmed because of Ho-woo, Lee Ho-yeon refused Oh-yul’s help. He simply avoided going out and ignored the reporters. Even after things had quieted down, he didn’t contact Ho-woo once. They had never been in frequent contact as father and son, but in a situation where he felt guilty, Ho-woo couldn’t help but be cautious.
If Lee Ho-yeon wasn’t home, Ho-woo wanted to use that as an excuse to leave, but the decision to recover his memories had to be made very carefully. Once he became aware of it, he had a strong feeling that he couldn’t ignore this memory forever.
When he closed his eyes, the door appeared clearly, as cold as if it were made of black ice. It was calling to Ho-woo so vividly that it was hard to believe it only existed in his mind.
And like the wife who opened Bluebeard’s basement, he would eventually open that door.
Before that happened, Ho-woo wanted to get even a small clue from Lee Ho-yeon. Like warming up before entering the water…
“What are you doing?”
“!”
Startled by Lee Ho-yeon’s voice from behind, Ho-woo turned around. Lee Ho-yeon, holding plastic bags as if he had been shopping at a nearby market, clicked his tongue at Ho-woo.
“If you came, why didn’t you call?”
“I thought you’d be back soon.”
Omitting that he had been hesitating whether to call or run away, Ho-woo followed Lee Ho-yeon, who entered the house first.
“Foolish.”
While organizing the groceries he had bought, Lee Ho-yeon raised one eyebrow at the fidgeting Ho-woo.
“If you need to use the bathroom, go.”
Although he didn’t need to use the bathroom, Ho-woo obediently escaped to the bathroom to catch his breath.
“What am I doing?”
It was hard to open his mouth to start the difficult conversation. Instead of using the toilet, Ho-woo washed his face with cold water and swallowed hard when he saw that Lee Ho-yeon had set the table in that short time.
“Come and eat.”
“……”
It was just a few side dishes and rice reheated in the microwave. Even though it was just that, Ho-woo couldn’t refuse and sat at the table.
“If I had known you were coming, I would have bought something else at the market.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why is your bangs wet again? So careless.”
While scolding, Lee Ho-yeon pushed a distant side dish towards Ho-woo. It was stir-fried dried squid, Ho-woo’s favorite. Ho-woo quietly finished a bowl of rice. He hadn’t been hungry, but he cleaned his plate as if in the blink of an eye, just with the stir-fried dried squid.
Clatter- Clatter-
The sound of clearing empty dishes echoed in the unusually quiet house. Ho-woo took a deep breath, his face slightly less tense. Yes, he had to ask eventually anyway. Encouraging himself, he spoke to Lee Ho-yeon’s back as he was washing dishes.
“Father.”
It was a short call, but Lee Ho-yeon’s hand paused for a moment. Then the clattering sound continued. There was no answer, but Ho-woo knew Lee Ho-yeon was listening to his voice.
“I need help.”
Something only Lee Ho-yeon could help with.
He needed some fragments of memory about the forgotten days.
“I want to hear about what happened before I was 10 years old.”
At Ho-woo’s words, Lee Ho-yeon let out a long sigh. Full of deep worry and concern.
“You must have a reason for suddenly being curious about this.”
Lee Ho-yeon stopped doing the dishes, took off his rubber gloves, put them away, and sat across from Ho-woo. His eyes became distant as if touching on a far-off past, then focused again.
